Political involvement in street‐level policy implementation as a two‐way relationship - The effect of policy capacity
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Authors
Author (Corporation)
Publication date
2024
Type of student thesis
Course of study
Type
01A - Journal article
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Parent work
Australian Journal of Public Administration
Special issue
DOI of the original publication
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Series
Series number
Volume
84
Issue / Number
4
Pages / Duration
628-645
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Publisher / Publishing institution
Wiley
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Edition
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Programming language
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Abstract
To date, research on politicians’ influence on the work of street-level bureaucrats (SLB) and the consequences for policy implementation has mainly focused on disruptive effects of political involvement—for instance, poorer social equity in public service provision or political patronage. Our study opens up this perspective and argues that the relationship between politicians and SLB is a two-way relationship shaped by capacities of the stakeholders themselves and their organisational environment. We link SLB research with policy capacity literature. We focus on the effect of political capacity because this type of capacity meaningfully influences whether SLB can actively control the relationship with politicians. We ask: What is the relevance of political capacity for policy implementation? We use data from Swiss social assistance where the phenomenon of interest, that is the political involvement, is institutionalised by law within the implementing agencies. We show that political capacity at the organisational and individual level has a confidence-building effect. SLB and politicians learn how to engage with each other and how to make the most of the exchange. Politicians gain a deeper understanding and are able to politically legitimise the policy.
Keywords
policy capacity, policy capacity, political involvement, street-level bureaucracy, Swiss social assistance
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ISBN
ISSN
1467-8500
0313-6647
0313-6647
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
Review
Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
Hybrid
License
Citation
Stauffer, B., & Hadorn, S. (2024). Political involvement in street‐level policy implementation as a two‐way relationship - The effect of policy capacity. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 84(4), 628–645. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12669